The touch of a snowflake is but a whisper of force. Bring enough snowflakes to bear, however, and trees are felled by them; valleys are cut by them; mountains crumble beneath them. And still, the touch of a single snowflake is but a whisper of force.

The touch of my Ki upon uke during kokyu nage is like a single snowflake; until, that is, it isn't. At the moment our congruent motions reach the limit of his balance and my maximized extension, when he is at his lightest and I am at my heaviest, that single snowflake-like touch of Ki becomes an avalanche.

At moments like that I am fully aware of our connections; to each other, to the group around us, to the wider universe. The deeper reality of Aikido training becomes manifest, and while transient, leaves a little of itself behind each time. And so I continue to grow.

(Original blog post may be found here (http://ron-aikidothoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-hundred-and-fifty-one.html).)